As the Giants bid a not-so-fond adieu to their wild Midwest travel experience, soak up the confidence engendered by a three-game winning streak and gear up for the game of the season Sunday against the Eagles, it’s fair to ask the following question:

Is Eli Manning playing well enough to lead his team where it needs to go? Especially now that two more receivers, Steve Smith (again) and Mario Manningham, are injured and probably won’t be available for the NFC East first-place showdown.

“I don’t think we were as effective with the passing game as we have been or will be,” coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday, after assessing Monday night’s 21-3 victory over the Vikings in Detroit. Coughlin again found himself in the unwanted position of dissecting Manning interceptions — two coming before the Giants scored a single point.

“From that standpoint, we were all disappointed and Eli’s more disappointed than any of us,” Coughlin said before adding, “There isn’t any question Eli is in the right frame of mind and excited about this opportunity as we all are, and he’ll be at his best this weekend.”

He will have to be. First place is the prize for the winner of this upcoming NFC East clash. If the Eagles win, they will have swept the two-game season series after taking the first meeting 27-17 in Philadelphia, own the tie-breaker and in effect have a two-game lead on the Giants with two games to play. If the Giants win, they would be a game ahead and control their destiny as far as winning the division.

“When we came away from [Philadelphia] with a loss, a game or two after that, even, we made the resolve we needed to get ourselves going,” Coughlin said, “and to be able to keep pace we needed to put some wins together to have an opportunity to play the Eagles again and be in a position we’re in. We all know first place in the division is at stake. That’s where we are, it is of huge significance and it is the kind of games you want to be playing in the middle of December in the National Football League.”

It is the kind of game that requires excellence from the quarterback.

Three weeks ago, Manning wasn’t especially sharp in the loss to the Eagles, throwing three interceptions — although the last one was a let-it-fly on the final play of the game. Manning kept things nice and easy against the Jaguars and was solid throughout despite not having his two starting receivers. Manning was nothing special in the 31-7 dismantling of the Redskins, allowing Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw to do the heavy lifting for the offense.

Manning was less than nothing special in Detroit, managing just 147 passing yards despite completing 20 of his 33 attempts. He threw two interceptions, and both were bad decisions mixed in with badly timed or directed throws. In the third quarter he had Hakeem Nicks open on a go-route and overthrew him, and two plays later would have thrown interception No. 3 of the night, and No. 20 of the season, if linebacker Ben Leber had not dropped a pick.

Again, the passing-game sluggishness was mitigated by another lethal ground barrage from Jacobs (116 yards) and Bradshaw (103).

The Giants can win that way as long as they keep running for 200 yards a game, which isn’t always going to be the case. Back on Nov. 21 in Philadelphia they managed just 39 combined rushing yards from Jacobs and Bradshaw.

If the run is stuffed again, the Giants need Manning to be at his best, which he hasn’t been for quite a while.